Inspired group of private schools

[PinkApple2019]

Hello, I am posting here for a friend. Her daughter's school was recently acquired by Inspired, an international group of private schools, and was wondering whether anyone has any experience of how these schools perform. They seem to have quite a few in the UK, including Wetherby (in different locations). Any feedback you have would be really useful, thanks so much!

Sorry to hear...

Thanks for this. I came across the other thread on Inspired Education and the comments there are very concerning. Do you have direct experience as teacher or parent?

I would like to know about this too. Thank you for the thread as I'm interested in people's thoughts. My ds went to one of their nurseries attached to their actual school when the merging happened. We chose a different school in the end as we heard from the one we wanted. From what I can see, his old friends are still continuing there so I'm guessing it's all ok? As for wetherby I keep seeing their adverts pop up everywhere which seems unusual since boys get registered on the day they are born. Has something happened since the merging that they need to advertise so much now to fill in spaces or are they enrolling more to maximise profit?

It is the Notting Hill wetherby pre-prep which is oversubscribed. It still is and I know people waiting for places. I have been getting the adverts too but they are for the Kensington branch, the prep in Marylebone and the new co-ed opening. Not the Notting Hill pre-prep.

Stay away from Inspired Schools, my wife was a teacher at one of their schools and the group management are toxic. It is purely education for profit. All the really good teachers and staff left after the takeover, and all the ones that stayed are looking elsewhere.

It apparently happens at all school Inspired buy out.
See the attached link from another teacher who was there. We can confirm that the content is so accurate and in line with our experience.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/inspired-education-leaves-teachers-uninspired-michael-doherty-kgydf

Oddly enough Ivy house in particular, as well as st Anthony's, seem to get great parent feedback!

Like any good school, (or business), if it's run by a really good CEO/Head Of School (delete inapplicable), that manages the corporate and/or parent communications/interference effectively and runs the school as it should, with good management, proper resourcing, both physical and teaching staff, good structure and discipline, then it would be a good school.

Unfortunately with some Inspired Schools (maybe not all), when the Head of School prior to acquisition leaves the post after the acquisition, Inspired have a reputation if installing one of their "own". One that follows corporate policy at the expense of the school. Our personal experience is that their is little done in the way of staff communication, structure or motivation. The new head of school has been there for 2 years, nearly all the teachers have yet to have a one on one, never attends school staff events, no positive or motivational communication of any sort. In fact most of the communication is based around cutting costs and limiting resources. Motivation is at an all time low amongst the teaching staff.

It has become practice that any school trips that are organised at cost price to parents, Inspired has seen fit to add up to 25% to the cost, for "trip management" (of which the teachers have done everything). In order to get around this, teachers are now asking parents to pay them the cost in cash, and they pay the costs by carrying cash on every outing!! They do this for the benefit of the children and because they actually care.

So yes, maybe there are a few good Inspired Schools, but the Linked In article closely mirrors my wife's experience. So if you're thinking of this group for your kids, just do some homework, you kids education is going to cost you a fortune, make sure you're getting what you expect.

The school has a really toxic atmosphere. It struggles to attract good staff because the conditions aren’t great. Some teachers need to be let go, and others who have been there for a while and are expensive are strangled by additional workload, even though the school offers smaller pay raises compared to most state schools, they then leave.

There are no playing fields on site so children have to be sent by Bus to the Astroturf near Ealing. Very very often the journey takes so long there and back children get very little time running around.

Unlike top non-profit schools in London, Wetherby Prep tends to be a school of last resort. The number of pupils is falling, but as long as you can pay, your son will get a place. Many parents who are too late or disorganised in applying to other good schools end up sending their sons to Wetherby.

While there are some great pupils and parents, there’s a higher number of divorced parents. This leads to many boys struggling with their emotional wellbeing and maturity, often due to difficult divorces. This contributes to a lot of poor behaviour. Parents deal with this by large amounts of private coaching.

Many of these parents don’t want to hear about their son’s bad behaviour; they only want to hear good things. The school knows this and deliberately avoids addressing poor behaviour. Pupils ignore the teachers, are rude to them, and answer back without facing any consequences, and some deliberately disrupt lessons, knowing that there are no real sanctions. Good students quickly learn bad habits. Teachers are warned if they try to enforce any discipline. The disciplinary procedures are so complex that it’s nearly impossible to punish students for misbehaving - this is deliberate. Some lessons are so negative that it’s surprising they don’t affect the pupils' mental health.

Parents usually don’t believe their sons when they report what happened at school and often don’t want to face the truth. They prefer to talk up the school in social situations to save face, which benefits the school as it helps to make it seem better than it really is.
Teachers often face a workload that’s more than double what other teachers have at different schools. This makes it difficult for them to build strong relationships with the pupils or give them the attention they need.

Any thoughts on Chepstow House?

Is it in the same situation, as Wetherby?

I don't know for sure, but Inspired is not looking at the best education, it is looking for profit. Teachers are professionals in every school, but the financial management and the school management driven by the financial management, can make it untenable for teachers, and can make a school toxic. It's hard to find out about a school: current parents tend to say nice things about a school, as do reviews, and teachers (as they are on the payroll). In fact the best way to find out about a school would actually be to speak to a teacher who has left, but not easy to find such people. Perhaps find the names of those leaving this year, and search for them on LinkedIn. It is a bit of a subterfuge, and they might even be cagey, but that might be the best way. MumsNet should really be a stronger vehicle for this information. Good luck.

My only knowledge is of them closing down schools they have acquired. At Falcon pre-prep School for Boys in Chiswick it was announced it would close on the 2nd day of term - once fees had been paid. This was September 2023 and it closed by December. They offered places at their other schools but they are all too far away for 4-7 year olds to travel, so parents were in total panic.

The site was pretty valuable (double fronted detached period house). I don't know what they have done with it since but it was in the local news as contractors went in to clear it and books and equipment (that could have been donated elsewhere) and paperwork (including personal files with SEN reports) where just chucked on the street.

https://chiswickcalendar.co.uk/huge-pile-of-educational-materials-dumped-outside-falcons-pre-prep-school/

I read recently that they are closing more this year, definitely recall one is in Putney.

I don't think closing schools comes as big surprise but I think the way they do it speaks volumes about them being a profit making business first, while being a caring school for local families comes someway down the list after that.

Here you go, bet they wished they'd waited a year before closing the Chiswick boys school, then they could have blamed that on VAT too...

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/two-london-private-schools-are-forced-to-close-following-labours-vat-raid-on-fees-b1231931.html

Thank you for sharing! We also experienced a recently acquired Inspired owned nursery closing on us! We only found out, when I contacted the nursery (thank goodness the week it was closing!) to confirm the days my child would attend. Was told they were closing down and they did not have any response on returning my deposit! Only after several chasing episodes, did we get our deposit back.

Very cautious about Chepstow House, but many parents love it. Not sure of other co-ed options in the area…so this is quite difficult.

@RioMamma Well all private schools are businesses - even those with charitable status. If you pick one that takes pride in providing the best service and being the best school it can then it probably doesn't matter to the parents how much the shareholders earn. Pick one that is purely focused on maximising shareholder profit and the experience won't be great.

Sadly it will become more common for even those that start out in the first category to move to the second if shareholders start complaining! Ensuring a school is providing good value is something that will require a closer eye in the future.

The school provides a conduit to the next school and parents not wanting to talk down their child’s education, talk up the school. In the meantime they spend vast quantities of money tutoring a child to the hilt. His or her tutor does their homework and teaches them the rudiments and when they go to school they play up. The school chooses not to discipline them because they don’t want to be criticised by the parents after all the customer is always right. The school environment becomes intolerable, but before they know it the child is in the next school